David Zhang, MD
David Zhang, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Specialties
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Locations
- Chicago - Hyde Park
- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
My name is David Zhang, I'm in pediatric infectious diseases. Pediatric infectious diseases is really about treating the whole body. We're not limited to one organ system. Infections can affect anywhere in the body and that's really what I love about being in this field. I chose to become a physician because I was always interested in being in the life sciences.
I majored in biochemistry. Did a lot of research in the lab setting in college, after college, and even a little bit in med school. And even a little bit why wanted to be a doctor was just to really channel those interests in a more practical way. And I really couldn't think of a more noble and honorable way to channel those interests that then being a physician where I get to impact the lives of children and their families as well.
I did my fellowship training here in University of Chicago at Comer Children's Hospital. I am just extremely fond of my training here. My colleagues that I get to interact with on a daily basis and even outside of pediatric infectious diseases just interacting with general pediatricians and the other subspecialists and the surgeons. I really just felt that there was a great community, that there was great camaraderie among the people who are at this institution in terms of furthering our mission of taking the best care of patients and just furthering our knowledge in terms of research.
My philosophy is care, is really just taking care of the patient as a whole. I think being in infectious diseases obviously we try to leave no stone unturned in terms of getting the answers that we need to take the best care of our patients. But also there's a lot of things in infectious diseases and also in medicine in general where there's not too much evidence to guide how we manage patients.
And so my philosophy really is just kind of-- there's a lot of giving and taking when it comes to those kinds of decisions. A lot of hard discussions that we have with families and taking their values and their perceptions into account when we make those difficult decisions. Part of our role here in University of Chicago is playing a part within the infection control and prevention team. Being in infectious diseases a lot of what we do is treating infections, but I also think there is just as much value in preventing an infection.
And so in a way, it's not the patient that we look at, but the hospital as a whole, the safety of when it comes to transmission of communicable diseases, making sure that we have all of our infection prevention measures in place. So that is one part of being in infectious diseases that I'm doing and that I feel very strongly about.
Specialties
Board Certifications
- Pediatric Infectious Disease
- Pediatrics
Languages Spoken
- English
Medical Education
- Rosalind Franklin University
Residency
- Loyola Medicine
Fellowship
- Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
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